Lamy Ink Sampler

[ErrantSmudge]

I made this for a discussion thread over in the Lamy sub-forum, "Is Lamy Blue Ink Really This Awful?".

 

Here is a sampler of all the Lamy inks I have on hand, on Tomoe River paper. I had to ink-up an Al-Star with one of the few blue carts I have remaining; that's both a good thing and a bad thing.

One note on the scan; my scanner makes Lamy's red (and to a lesser extent, the pink) much more saturated than in real life.

Edited March 29, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[Newjelan]

Thanks. Looking at your scans, Turquoise looks the most interesting and the Blue is pretty awful.

[Torrilin]

The blue is really ballpoint feeling, yeah. It might be less dire in a fat nib, but I really don’t enjoy most blues sooooo....

 

The violet is great if you like purples. Maybe a little boring, but it’s got the same kind of great shading as Violette Penseé. Good dry time.

 

I haven’t tried the turquoise, in swabs it always looks much too light and blue, but if it shades that well I might need it.

 

The black is really boring but the good kind where it dries really fast and is very neutral and has minimal shading and cleans up well. And it’s got really nice washes if you hit it with a waterbrush.

 

The green is really light and blue toned in the writing samples I’ve seen. It shades, but not in a good way. And it’s hard to read. If you need an inexpensive vintage pen friendly green there’s GOT to be a better choice.

[ErrantSmudge]

I agree with all the above assessments. Outside of Black, Violet, and Turquoise it's hard for me to recommend any of the inks in Lamy's standard (not-LE) lineup. Vibrant Pink (LE) is not bad for those who like pinks.

 

Turquoise shades for me on both Clairefontaine and Tomoe River (used for the sample above).

Edited April 2, 2018 by ErrantSmudge

[Torrilin]

I really like the color of their blue black but it’s definitely not to everyone’s taste.

[lapis]

The thing I appreciate most about Lamy inks is your whole Post here. Thanks for that good work!!! The next best thing IMO is your choice of citations. None of the Lamy inks come anywhere near those two things. Possible exception is their Petrol (it's not just the colour but also its physical properties).

[Bo Bo Olson]

The blue shades....so is not all that bad............is a 'school' ink, like Pelikan Royal Blue; so they can wash out of cloths.

I'll have to load a pen up eventually with my old Lamy blue.

The old turquoise is the same as the newer bottle. About a decade ago Lamy Turquoise was the base color all other turquoises were compared too. It seems to have fallen out of favor in it is so 'common'/cheap.

 

Lamy feeds and nibs are designed around Lamy inks, just like Pelikan or MB, Waterman are designed around their inks.

So perhaps one should have a Lamy pen or two, to see if that makes the inks better.

I've not done that, but Peniigneers blog is interesting in he designed the feed, and with chemical treatment, that feed will match the rough sawn ebonite.

 

I do like the violet, and many others once did too, lamenting it came only in cartridges and not in bottles.

Dam, got to make some space so all my ink colors are together by color, and not by brand.....I do have other violet inks. I'd not expected to like violet, but did, and both Lamy and Pelikan are to my eyes similar....as is the turquoise....and blue.

Edited April 17, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[gampupen]

Nice ink bottle. Which brand? Does it have an ink well inside?

[Bo Bo Olson]

Those are old Lamy ink bottles. W.Germany printed on the boxes, so before 1990....How odd to see a box with out a bar code.

There is a round plastic insert inside that one can tip the bottle upside down to get a full and last load.

The modern ones have a half hemisphere in the bottom of the bottle to get the rest of the ink....hidden by the plastic dispenser stand, with it's nib cleaner padded paper band. Can't cut and paste and Imgure want's to do it the hard way. Inside the plastic stand is a roll of paper to clean the nib.

 

 

I don't know how the very first Lamy ink bottles look, but both these W. Germany ones and the modern ones with the little cleaning tab were in advance of many others.

 

MB had it's boot, and many others before that. Sheaffer it's shelf.

Have to it look it up, can't get it into Imgur...same with the Akkermann bottle.

 

The Waterman and Pelikan bottles allow the ink to be tilted into a corner.

 

The Akkermann is a grand bottle also, turn it upside down to fill it, and a marble drops down to seal it. I don't have that nor the Sheaffer bottles.

Edited April 17, 2018 by Bo Bo Olson

[gampupen]

Thanks. Very functional bottle.